Tuesday, December 29, 2015

In East Germany, all the recruited CIA agents working there were found to be double agents working secretly for the Ministry of State Security spy service, also known as the Stasi. All. Of. Them. Noodle that for a moment. According to Stasi officers, they failed at placing agents in the CIA. But there wasn’t a single CIA op on their turf that they weren’t able to detect using double agents and counterespionage operations. Fischer said the controlled East German assets “rendered U.S. intelligence deaf, dumb and blind.”

Lying, by itself, is obviously not new. What is new is the growing acceptance of lying as "no big deal" by smug sophisticates, so long as these are lies that advance their political causes. Many in the media greeted the exposure of Hillary Clinton's lies by admiring how well she handled herself.

Lies are a wall between us and reality — and being walled off from reality is the biggest deal of all. Reality does not disappear because we don't see it. It just hits us like a ton of bricks when we least expect it.

For the unaware, Magic Dirt Theory claims that the soil alters behavior. Place a bunch of Bantus in Paris and they magically transform into Frenchmen. Round up residents of your typical inner city, set them up in suburbia and they become the Cleavers, just without all the honky-ism and white privilege. They will quit gang-banging, get jobs, pay taxes and join the Rotary Club.

In the ongoing crisis, it’s tempting to think that belief in magic is new or just a last gasp, but magic has always been a central part of the Cult of Modern Liberalism. Decades ago, moonbats were convinced that if they affixed a Darwin Fish to their Subaru, it would turn the vehicle’s occupants into scientists. Back in the day, the surest way to spot the innumerate was to look for the Darwin Fish.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Re-post from 2013; a few links added.Since the creation of Kwanzaa, many have correctly noted that it has no basis in black American history or heritage. For example, its seven core principles all have Swahili names. The Swahili language is predominant in East African countries—Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, etc.—but black Americans are almost all descended from West African cultures. (Disclaimer: In spite of being one of the rare Americans who does have some East African heritage, I have never celebrated Kwanzaa.)Some have even opined that the celebration of Kwanzaa is an anathema to Christianity. On this I’m…ahem…agnostic, since Kwanzaa appears to have no religious or spiritual underpinnings—not unless one counts the religious and spiritual underpinnings of its creator, Dr. Maulana Karenga nee Ron Everett.However, since this black American subcultural phenomenon has been dissected and denounced far and wide, I think it’s important to examine aspects of our larger, overarching culture, its traditions, and to know the truth about them.And so we turn to Christmas and its questionable foundations.

Nearly all religious scholars agree that Jesus the Christ wasn’t born on December 25th or the equivalent on the Jewish calendar. The reasons? Number one, it was too cold.

Shepherds would not have been in the field at night with their flocks after October. (Luke 2:8)

Romans would not have called for registration requiring travel in December because of the weather. (Matthew 24:20)

At what time of year was Jesus born? Follow the time line and don’t take my word for anything.Irenaeus, one of the early church fathers (second century A.D.), claimed that Jesus was born in the 41st year of the reign of Augustus Caesar.* If that’s so, then Jesus was born in 2 B.C. rather than the generally accepted 4 B.C.Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, was a priest in the course of Abijah, the eighth course. (Luke 1:1) Note: The priestly caste was organized by King David into 24 courses. The length of each course was seven days, from Shabbat to the next Shabbat. (1 Chronicles 24: 1-19)The last Jewish Temple was destroyed by Roman military commander Titus—later Emperor-- during the sacking of Jerusalem on Tish B’Av 3830, which on the Gregorian calendar was August 4, 70 A.D. At this time, the first priestly course had just taken office.Working backward from the previous fact, one can see that the end of Zacharias’s course occurred on July 13, 3 B.C. In Luke 1, it is noted that his wife, Elizabeth became pregnant at that time.If the birth of John the Baptist occurred anywhere from 271 to 280 days after that, then he was born in early to mid April of 2 B.C. And according to the Bible, Jesus the Christ was born five months later, in September. (Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy when Mary—pregnant with Jesus—came to visit her.) Some even think it might have been September 11th. (BTW, the good people at that last link have a slightly different and much more detailed timeline than mine.)

So, why do we celebrate Jesus’ birth on December 25th? Here's why.

The first Church experienced hundreds of years of persecution--first from the Jewish clergy, then from the Roman Empire. But when Emperor Constantine (of the western part of the empire and who converted himself and his empire to Christianity) and Emperor Licinius (of the eastern part) agreed to the Edict of Milan, Christianity became legal.

Constantine—who conducted the First Council of Nicaea--used pagan ideas and practices in order to make the newly condoned celebration of Christ’s birthday more palatable to his mostly pagan subjects. So it is that Christmas falls around the same time as two of pagan Rome's beloved festivals and had taken on the trappings of at least one.

The Saturnalia festival has an astronomical character, referring to the completion of the sun’s yearly course, and the commencement of a new cycle. Saturn, from whom we get the word for the day of the week, Saturday, represented by the sun at its lowest aspect at the winter solstice. The earth is cold, most plants are dead, and it was believed that the sun might also be approaching death. Today winter solstice is around December 21, but because of calendar changes, it was originally December 25th. Saturnalia celebrated the sun overcoming the power of winter, with hope of spring when life would be renewed. In Roman times Bacchus, the god of wine, became the lord of these festivals. (…)

In the Greek myths, Kronos (Saturn) was the Roman Deity of Time and an ancient Italian Corn God known as the Sower. Male ruler of the Roman Gods prior to Jupiter, Saturn's weapon was a scythe or sickle. Kronos was one of the twelve titans. Upon the advice of Gaea (who understood the changes of life and knew that Uranus would never, of his own accord, yield to the younger generation), Saturn castrated his father and thus separated Heaven from Earth. Gaea created out of flint...a mineral of her own substance...a sickle with which to complete the deed. It was the tool by which life was cut down at the time of harvest and was crescent-shaped like the moon, symbolic of cyclic rise and fall. It was believed that the spilled blood of Uranus formed such creatures as the Giants and the Furies, and that his genitals (which were tossed into the sea eventually produced the beautiful Venus/Aphrodite).

But the actual choice of December 25 for Christmas was thought to have been made under the Emperor Aurelian* because this was the date of the Winter Solstice and was the day devotees of Mithras celebrated the dies natalis solis invictus 'birthday of the invincible sun.’

There are two Mithrases. One has origins in Persia-India; the other is Roman. Whether these are the same entity has long been in dispute.(Side note: Mithras and Saturn sound a whole lot like Osiris.)

Oh and, by the way, early Christians who tried to worship according to the Bible--that is, without the Saturnalia paraphernalia--were excommunicated from Constantine’s Roman Church.

And, finally, all of the traditions conjured in our minds when we think of Christmas have their origins in various pagan practices.

10 Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:

2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

Emphasis mine. I think my point is made. Now, if people--Christians specifically--still want to celebrate the birth of Christ in the traditional manner, I don’t think there’s any harm in it as long as they know what they are doing and have knowledge of the foundations on which they conduct their celebrations. In Hosea 4:6, God said this about another set of His children:

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Additionally, bashing the foundation of something inconsequential like Kwanzaa while, simultaneously, adorning one's house with the pagan symbols of an empire which did not serve the Living God is hypocritical and, more importantly, spiritually dangerous.

Students at an ultra-liberal Ohio college are in an uproar over the fried chicken, sushi and Vietnamese sandwiches served in the school cafeterias, complaining the dishes are “insensitive” and “culturally inappropriate.”

Gastronomically correct students at Oberlin College — alma mater of Lena Dunham — are filling the school newspaper with complaints and demanding meetings with campus dining officials and even the college president.

General Tso’s chicken was made with steamed chicken instead of fried — which is not authentically Chinese, and simply “weird,” one student bellyached in the Oberlin Review.

Others were up in arms over banh mi Vietnamese sandwiches served with coleslaw instead of pickled vegetables, and on ciabatta bread, rather than the traditional French baguette.

These women are often angry. Justifiably so. Notice that these stories are much longer than the standard article. It takes more words to talk around the truth. Also, I suspect, because editors are unwilling to edit stories that are so raw, which makes Kimball’s complaint about a conspiracy of silence odd. Where is the sphere of silence and secrecy when national and international publications accept 10,000-word pieces on these topics?

The silence is in women’s emotional lives. What feminism insists we hide is not facts or bodily functions. Those we can flaunt—are encouraged to flaunt. We can talk about women stuff all we want. We just aren’t allowed to feel anything about it.

That is the reason the essential pretense is so essential. Who has feelings about a clump of cells? The feminist comfort Kimball spoke of regarding her abortion did not tell her how she would feel about the procedure, but that she did not need to feel anything about it. Pregnancy is just a biological function. There is no need to bring emotion into it. That’s the patriarchy and social conditioning talking. Just dismiss those feelings.

But then, one day, our desires change and the feelings don’t dismiss so easily. Occasionally, those undismissable feelings are not just about the baby.

I must be getting old in the world of online opining—I’ve been blogging since 2003. Since that time, I’ve been called all manner of nasty things related to my race, religion, heritage, politics and whatnot. I’ve been called a whore for the white man and an African snob by black people. I’ve been called a Low Information Voter, an apologist for Islam(!) and a probable welfare queen by white people—the presumption was that I voted for the present POTUS. In 2008, I was even called “delusional” by an alleged conservative. My crime? Asserting that Barack Obama is a Marxist/socialist/progressive/communist. (Who’s the LIV now?)

As a result, insults pretty much roll off my back. In addition, I rather enjoy answering back like a civilized human while, sometimes slipping the verbal shiv in without the insulter knowing it…until they see their blood on the floor.

The mirror trades, as described in a Russian central bank report earlier this year on Deutsche Bank, involved clients buying Russian shares for rubles in Moscow and simultaneously selling them in London, usually for dollars, according to people familiar with the central bank’s findings.

That sort of trade, while legal in some circumstances, can also be used to skirt U.S. rules on reporting large international movements of money.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Thanks to some generous friends, I'm going out to apply for my passport today!

Also, I'm headed to the LAPL. Usually, I download e-books and audiobooks from the LAPL website; as I've mentioned before, virtual books make public transportation so much easier. It's only on occasion that I will haul my butt over to a branch to pick up a dead-tree book. In this case, the book is needed for a post I'm composing.

Officials closed all Los Angeles Unified School District campuses Tuesday morning after receiving a "credible threat" of violence involving backpacks and packages left at campuses.

Authorities said they plan a search operation of all of the LAUSD's more than 900
schools. The nation's second-largest school district has more than 700,000 students.

“I think it’s important to take this precaution based on what has happened recently and what has happened in the past,” LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines said.
The move comes less than two weeks after two shooters killed 14 people in San Bernardino in what was the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11.

Think about what this does. Even if the terrorists don't blow anything up, they've shut LA down, business-wise. (For once, I'm glad that I no longer have a car.)

Monday, December 14, 2015

And right before the San Bernardino Terror Attack (recorded hours before it) , he said this:

ISIL is not going to pose an existential threat to us, they are a dangerous organization like al Qaeda was, but we have hardened our defenses, our homeland has never been more protected by more effective intelligence and law enforcement professionals at every level than they are now.

It may be coincidence--except that I don't believe in those.

God has called our president a liar twice. BIRM. Will He do it a third time?

The new Star Trek movie, Star Trek: Beyond, is set to be release next summer. Its trailer was released today.

I don't think it betrays much information about the plot, but Trek purists are all in a Twitter, nonetheless. But they will go to see it and so will I.And even if it sucks, I will watch it more than once. There are two reasons for that.

From Day One in 1966, I have been a huge Trekkie/Trekker/whatever. As was so for most black Americans, the presence of Lt. Uhura on screen--not fat, not cooking, not cleaning and not wearing a rag on her head--was very uplifting to me. But, there was more about Nyota Uhura that caught my attention.

The name of her character indicated to me that she was from my father's neck of the woods: eastern Africa. Yes, I used to catch a lot of crap from other blacks for being a real, live, spear-chucking African and Lt. Uhura, as portrayed by the still-beautiful Nichelle Nichols, eased some of the pain of my childhood. I was a smart enough kid to imagine myself as being her Nth great-grandmother. Trek for life, baby!

But, leaving that aside, I like Trek and always have because I care what happens to all of the people set in the Trek universe(s). As a counter-example, I am not a Star Wars fan because I don't care about its characters, as evidenced by the fact that I have never been able to stay awake during any of the movies. Yes, I said it.

Well, at least there's one thing to look forward to in the upcoming year.

AFTERTHOUGHT: I have absolutely no problem with Zoe Saldana's portrayal of Uhura. But if Ms. Saldana were to step down from the role, I think it should be offered to my kinswoman, Lupita Nyong'o--a bit of type-casting, to be sure.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

But what does that mean, really?

“My people, called by my name.” One has to know who God is and know His name(s) to determine the identities of both God and His people.

“Humble themselves.” In my opinion, this is the most difficult thing for American Christians--to humble oneself—before God. We want to pretend to be “humble” in front of other people, even though Jesus the Christ had a lot to say about that; none of it good. To be blunt, to humble oneself is fast, to pray and to seek God’s face, and to do those things without the intent to "be seen of men."

"Seek God's face." Lots of people claim to hear audibly from God. Some of them I doubt, and some not, since I have had at least one message from God while sleeping. However, the primary method that God uses to talk to His people--and His potential people--is through reading of scripture, and meditating on it. (There will be more about meditation in a later post.)

“Turn from their wicked ways.” This means to trust in the power and other attributes of God and to turn away from trusting in self, in other human beings, and in human-created entities. Examples of the latter are governments and even formal church denominations. Trusting in God points individuals to people and entities which are trustworthy.

The rest of the verse is pretty straight-forward, except that I think that, while the word 'land' refers to nations and real estate, it also refers to our physical bodies: the "land" inhabited by one's soul and spirit.

The primary thing which the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wants from each of us is a relationship: to talk, to listen, and to obey--to act.

Action is the issue here. Action without the first two—talking and listening—is folly. Talking and listening without acting betrays lack of trust.

God never rewards any of His servants who sit on their backsides. He also does not reward stupidity. He does, however, do the impossible. And I think that is what is required as we observe our enemies set in array about us.

I seem to recall that a few of my friends and at least one relative saying that we Christians and conservatives had to take responsibility for the Colorado Springs Terrorist, Robert Dear. Okay, fine. May the Lord rebuke that evil man in Jesus' name. I hope he gets the most severe earthly penalty. And, spiritually speaking, Dear disobeyed one of Christ's commandments and it is up to God as to how He wants to handle that.

I hope, however, that my friends and family wield their moral cudgels equally and are applying this same standard to their Muslim acquaintances for all of these mass murders committed by Muslims in 2015 alone. This is not a complete list, to be sure:

I'm very amused by the many, many things people "know," without actually knowing, like reducing immigration levels for a specific group must be "unconstitutional," or that this goes against our "values."

That tidbit of information on immigration laws that I posted this morning? I did it in minutes. Researched it myself, since I have no assistants, like my betters have. I took breaks to hand-wash my clothes.

It is not that hard to find out what's constitutional and what's not. But that would preclude all the moral preening.

Lazy jackholes. I would laugh too, if I weren't so angry.

TO THE 'THESE ARE NOT OUR VALUES' SCREAMING MIMIS: From one of Ace's guests.

With respect to immigration, we have swung from one extreme to another. Our betters tell us that extremism is bad, do they not? With all the caterwauling about Donald Trump’s "extremist" rhetoric regarding Muslims, it’s important to understand how we got to the point where Mr. Trump’s proposal sounds like a good start.

Nice dental work!

In the aftermath of the San Bernardino terrorist attack, Trump, not one to bite his tongue or to let a crisis go to waste, says that the USA should stop Muslims from immigrating. The only reason I think that this is a bad idea is because it’s impractical: there is no standard which could be used for such a screening which a well-trained actor could not meet.

A better solution, of course, would be to halt all immigration for a set period of time, but that, too, is unworkable. What would be the point for such a pause if the borders are wide open?

Readers might remember that my biological father came to America on a student visa and that fact is pertinent. My father, journalist Philip Ochieng, arrived here in 1959 via the now well-known Mboya Airlift (aka Kennedy Airlift, due to the role played in its funding by the Kennedy Foundation). The first sortie of this airlift contained 81 young Africans—my father among them--from Kenya, which was then known as British East Africa. A few students came from a few other countries in the region. (President Obama had claimed that his father, Barack Obama, Sr., arrived in America via this same trip, but that was later discovered to be untrue. Obama Sr. arrived in Hawaii in June 1959; that first sortie happened three months later.)

But we all know that the 50-year-old law alone isn't what cratered regulation of immigration. What did: the continuous "failure" by Democrat- and Republican-controlled administrations and congresses to secure our borders.

Our betters seemedto have fixed a problem. Hindsight, however, makes it look as if the fix was merely a first step in creating chaos; the combination of the 1965 legislation with the insecure borders have created a flood of any and all who want to come into the United States, for purposes innocuous or sinister—an unconstrained flood. One plus one equals who the hell knows how many--which I contend, is the goal.

So it is, that we have been beset by extremists and extremism for a long time.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Because of miseducation and plain-old stupidity, people don't understand what ideology is and how ideology relates to action. Ideology is the seed and action is the the tree, along with the fruit. The connection remains unmade in the minds of those who compare the violent actions of those who call themselves Christians and the violence actions of those who call themselves Muslims. To those who are unable or unwilling to make the connection, if outcomes are the same, then the ideologies must be the same, and are, therefore, equally abhorrent. Of course, our "betters" don't believe this. They know that Judeo-Christian ideology is fundamentally different from Islam.However, our betters decided long ago to fundamentally transform the schooling of the serfs--you and me. Not only have our schools stopped defending the West and its underpinnings--the Church--they have also stopped giving students the tools even to understand the relationship between what you believe and what you do. They've turned us into savages.

Some dude with and Arabic-Persian name sends me and others a Tweet listing "Christian" terrorists. I don't think that he actually read the link, but I haven't ruled out the possibility that he's joking.